Earth working apparatus

ABSTRACT

An earth working apparatus including a draw bar having a tool holder adapted to have a earth working tool herein and being pivotally mounted at one end thereof and a pivotal connection at the other end adapted to be connected to a moving vehicle such as a tractor, an actuator for raising and lowering the draw bar about its pivotal connection to the vehicle, a link pivotally connected a one end to the tool holder above its pivotal connection to the draw bar and at the other end to a movable or sliding pivotal connection and an actuator for moving the sliding pivotal connection of said link from a point above the draw bar connection to the vehicle forming a parallelogram type linkage device for the maintenance of the angle of the tool in the tool holder with respect to the ground to a point near the draw bar vehicle connection to form a radial type linkage device for varying the angle of the tool in the tool holder with respect to the ground responsive to the elevation of the draw bar. The earth working apparatus also includes a mounting structure being pivotally mounted to the vehicle and to the draw bar and having an actuator for changing the draw bar and having an actuator for changing the position of said mounting structure with respect to the vehicle. This abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application which, of course, is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

United States Patent [191 higpen Aug. 27, 1974 EARTH WORKING APPARATUS [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: CRC-Crose International, lnc.,

Houston, Tex.

22 Filed: Feb. 16, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 333,062

James L. Thigpen, Harlingen, Tex.

[52] US. Cl 172/248, 172/484, 172/699 [51] Int. Cl AOlb 63/32 [58] Field of Search 172/699, 248, 439, 444,

Primary Examiner-Stephen C. Pellegrino Attorney, Agent, or Firm-.lack R. Springgate; Joe E. Edwards; M. H. Gay

[5 7 1 ABSTRACT An earth working apparatus including a draw bar having a tool holder adapted to have a earth working tool herein and being pivotally mounted at one end thereof and a pivotal connection at the other end adapted to be connected to a moving vehicle such as a tractor, an actuator for raising and lowering the draw bar about its pivotal connection to the vehicle, a link pivotally connected a one end to the tool holder above its pivotal connection to the draw bar and at the other end to a movable or sliding pivotal connection and an actuator for moving the sliding pivotal connection of said link from a point above the draw bar connection to the vehicle forming a parallelogram type linkage device for the maintenance of the angle of the tool in the tool holder with respect to the ground to a point near the draw bar vehicle connection to form a radial type linkage device for varying the angle of the tool in the tool holder with respect to the ground responsive to the elevation of the draw bar. The earth working apparatus also includes a mounting structure being pivotally mounted to the vehicle and to the draw bar and having an actuator for changing the draw bar and having an actuator for changing the position of said mounting structure with respect to the vehicle. This abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application which, of course, is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

3 Claims. 11 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Earth working apparatus of the type to which the present invention applies is commonly called an earth ripper and is used to loosen the top three to four feet of soil in preparation for some other operation such as trenching or mining. The apparatus previously used involves the connection of the tool to a moving vehicle, such as a tractor, which has been a draw bar that can be elevated for raising the ripping tool above the ground and lowering it to ripping position. Such structure in which the tool is held in fixed position at the rear end of the draw bar provides a radial movement of the tool about the forward pivot connection of the draw bar.

A parallelogram structure for mounting the tool has been used and this structure maintains the tool at a constant angle with respect to the ground as it is elevated and lowered.

Both forms of tool support have advantageous uses. With the parallelogram structure if a tool becomes trapped partly under a rock and the vehicle cannot move forward the tool cannot be lifted, but with a radial tool movement available the tool can be raised from such position because the radial movement can withdraw the tool point from under the rock.

SUMMARY The present invention relates to an improved earth working apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved earth working apparatus which may be readily changed from radial to parallelogram tool support.

Another object is to provide an improved earth working apparatus whose tools may be raised or lowered with either a constant or a varying angle of attack.

Another object is to provide an earth working apparatus in which the angle of attack of the tools may be adjusted while the tool bar is held at a constant level and in which the main force of such adjustment is borne by a rigid member such as a brace, rather than a moving member such as a hydraulic cylinder.

A further object is to provide an earth working apparatus in which the angle of attack of the tools while the tool bar is held at a constant level may be continually and cyclically altered to produce a clawing motion of the tools.

Still another object is to provide two separate means for adjusting the angle of attack of the tools while the tool bar is held at a constant level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING These and other objects and advantages of the improved earth working apparatus of the present invention are hereinafter set forth and explained with respect FIG. 3A is a sectional view taken along line 3A-3A in FIG. 3 and FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along line 3B-3B in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation view of the movable link connection.

FIG. 4A is a sectional view taken along line 4A-4A in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 with the parallelogram tool support illustrated and with the elevated tool position shown in solid lines and the ripping position shown in dashed lines.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 with the radial tool support illustrated and with the elevated tool position shown in solid lines and the ripping position shown in dashed lines.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view showing the tool movement when the support structure .is moved from radial (solid lines) to parallelogram (dashed lines) positions.

FIG. 8 is 'a side elevation view of an adjustment to the draw bar mounting.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The earth working apparatus of the present invention is adapted to support at least one earth working tool in ground breaking position behind a moving vehicle such as the tractor 10. In the apparatus illustrated in the drawings, the structure 12 which connects the tools 14 to the tractor I0 is shown supporting three of the ground breaking tools 14. While this structure is specifically designed for three tools, it may be used for a single tool or any other number of tools desired.

The structure 12 includes the plate 16 which is suitably secured to the rear of the tractor 10 and provides the foundation for the connection to the remainder of the structure 12. The draw bar 18 is pivotally mounted at its forward end by the pins 20 extending through the lugs 22 which are secured to the plate 16. The actuators 24are mounted to the upper lugs 26 and connect to the draw bar 18 as shown to raise and lower the rear end of the draw bar 18 and thereby control the position of the tools 14. The draw bar 18 includes the two legs 28 and the cross brace 30.

The tool holder assembly 32 includes the tool holders 34 and the brace 36 which is secured to each of the holders 34 and thus retains the holders in a fixed position in relation to each other. The assembly 32 is pivotally mounted to the rear end of the draw bar legs 28 by the pins 38.

The arm 40 which extends upwardly from and is secured to the tool holder assembly 32 is formed in the shape of an inverted Y with the base 42 having a hole therein. The link 44 is connected to the arm 40 by the pin 46 which engages through the rear end of link 44 and through the hole in arm base 42. The forward end of link 44 is pivotally connected to the movable connecting means 48.

The movable connecting means 48 includes the lugs 50 are connected to the end of link 44 by the pin 52 and have the flanges 54 extending outwardly at each side to engage within and be slidable in the track means 56. The track means 56 is defined by the back plate 58 which is secured toplate 16, the side plates 60 which are secured to back plate 58 and the rails 62 which are secured to the side plates 60 in space relationship to define the slots in which the flanges 54 engage.

Movement of the connecting means 48 is provided by the actuator 64 which is connected to the lugs 50 by the pin 66 and to the ear 68 by the pin 70. When actuator 64 is extended, the lugs 50 slide downwardly in the track means 56 to render the structure 12 a radial type support for the tools 14. When actuator 64 is retracted the lugs 50 slide upwardly in the track means 56 to render the structure 12 a parallelogram type support for the tools 14.

While not shown controls for the actuators 24 and 64 are connected to be operable by the operator seated on the tractor 10.

By reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 the different positioning of the tools 14 by the structure 12 in its radial and parallelogram configurations can be seen. In FIG. 5, the forward end of link 44 is spaced above the forward end of drag bar 18 (actuator 64 is retracted) forming the parallelogram configuration. The solid line portion of the drawing illustrates the structure 12 in too] elevated position and the dashed line portion illustrates the structure 12 in lowered or ground breaking position.

In this parallelogram configuration if the tools 14 encounter a solid object 72 which they do not move the tractor 10 must be backed to release the tools 14 from under the object 72.

To distinguish this configuration, the radial configuration is similarly shown in FIG. 6. When the tools engage the same solid object, actuation of the actuators 24 can withdraw the tools 14 from under the object 72 without any other movement of the structure 12 or the tractor 10.

Further the improved structure 12 by having an immediate convertibility from one support configuration to the other has all of the advantages of each in addition to the convertibility advantages.

In FIG. 7, the effect on the variation in the position of tools 14 in elevated position responsive to conversion between configurations is illustrated. In various positions, the cycling of actuator 64 results in a scratching movement of the tools 14.

As has been described the improved structure of the present invention allows the angle of the tools to be controlled by the driver and such angle is changed by the actuation of the actuator 64 to cause the tool to be supported on a parallelogram linkage or a radial type linkage as desired by the operator. Such structure is advantageous in removing the tools from under large objects as explained.

What is claimed is:

1. An earth working apparatus adapted to be secured to a vehicle, comprising a draw bar,

means for pivotally connecting the forward end of said draw bar to the rear of said vehicle,

a tool holder pivotally connected to the rear end of said draw bar,

a link,

the rear end of said link being pivotally connected to said tool holder at a position above its connection to said draw bar,

means providing a movable pivotal connection of the forward end of said link to said vehicle,

actuator means on said vehicle for moving said movable pivotal connection from a parallelogram position above said draw bar through a series of positions to a radial position near the level of the forward end of said draw bar to produce a scratching movement of the tool, and

means for pivoting said draw bar about its forward pivotal connection.

2. An earth working apparatus adapted to be secured to a vehicle, comprising a draw bar,

means for pivotally connecting the forward end of said draw bar to the rear of said vehicle,

a tool holder pivotally connected to the rear end of said draw bar,

a link,

the rear end of said link being pivotally connected to said tool holder at a position above its connection to said draw bar,

means providing a movable pivotal connection of the forward end of said link to said vehicle,

means for moving said movable pivotal connection from a position above said draw bar to a position near the level of the forward end of said draw bar,

means for pivoting said draw bar about its forward pivotal connection,

said movable pivotal connecting means including a track extending upwardly from a position near the forward end of said draw bar, and

means engaging in and adapted to move along said track and having a pivotal connection thereon for connection to the forward end of said link.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said track extends to a position above the forward end of said draw bar at approximately the same distance thereabove as the connection of said link to said tool holder. 

1. An earth working apparatus adapted to be secured to a vehicle, comprising a draw bar, means for pivotally connecting the forward end of said draw bar to the rear of said vehicle, a tool holder pivotally connected to the rear end of said draw bar, a link, the rear end of said link being pivotally connected to said tool holder at a position above its connection to said draw bar, means providing a movable pivotal connection of the forward end of said link to said vehicle, actuator means on said vehicle for moving said movable pivotal connection from a parallelogram position above said draw bar through a series of positions to a radial position near the level of the forward end of said draw bar to produce a scratching movement of the tool, and means for pivoting said draw bar about its forward pivotal connection.
 2. An earth working apparatus adapted to be secured to a vehicle, comprising a draw bar, means for pivotally connecting the forward end of said draw bar to the rear of said vehicle, a tool holder pivotally connected to the rear end of said draw bar, a link, the rear end of said link being pivotally connected to said tool holder at a position above its connection to said draw bar, means providing a movable pivotal connection of the forward end of said link to said vehicle, means for moving said movable pivotal connection from a position above said draw bar to a position near the level of the forward end of said draw bar, means for pivoting said draw bar about its forward pivotal connection, said movable pivotal connecting means including a track extending upwardly from a position near the forward end of said draw bar, and means engaging in and adapted to move along said track and having a pivotal connection thereon for connection to the forward end of said link.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said track extends to a position above the forward end of said draw bar at approximately the same distance thereabove as the connection of said link to said tool holder. 